Chapter 10: Divorce in the Zhong family is a real hassle; even if you don't die, you'll be skinned alive.
Ji Tanyuan opened her eyes and looked at the light outside the door.
Zhong Yan turned off the engine. She had been feeling a bit down since she was refused when she said she was bored and wanted to go back on the way. "Missing home?"
Ji Tanyuan smiled gently, "No, get out of the car, they must be getting impatient."
Zhong Yan grabbed her wrist and stared at her for a long time, his grip on Ji Tanyuan's wrist becoming increasingly tight.
"Tan Yuan, are you being unreasonable with me?"
Ji Tanyuan was speechless. "I just said I was going home, and you're saying I'm being willful?"
Zhong Yan's expression turned cold. "You can stay in Shanghai for a day or two, but not longer than a week. Ji Tanyuan, this is where you belong."
Ji Tanyuan's eyes showed shock. "You're being too domineering."
Zhong Yan didn't get out of the car either. "Overbearing? If others catch wind of a marital breakdown between the two families, your family will be the first to be affected. I thought you were so well-behaved before because you knew the consequences."
"I'm just going back to Hujiang, I didn't say we were going to separate."
The Ji family headquarters is located in Hujiang, and some meetings need to be held offline.
"Your home is in Yanjing."
Ji Tanyuan opened her mouth; she didn't know how to swear, but she wanted to.
Are you alright?
Zhong Yan didn't say anything more. At that moment, the assistant team, who had been waiting for a long time, saw the boss's car appear at the door and went to wait.
This was Assistant Liang's third time meeting Madam Liang, and he was a little nervous.
The CEO often talked about the princess behind her back, but he thought she was very gentle. She was always smiling when they met, and she even gave him a luxury watch when they first met.
On the contrary, Prince Zhong is sharp-tongued and mean-spirited, and loves to speak ill of others. Although Zhong Yan is the one who pays his salary, he still prefers the smiling Princess Ji.
Just as he was thinking about it, the passenger door opened first. Assistant Liang was greeted by a strong fragrance and a loud slamming sound as the door closed.
"Zhong Yan! Let's get a divorce."
He started walking forward as he spoke.
Zhong Yan followed closely behind and got out of the car. "You think you can leave Yanjing? I'll take your surname!"
He knew that Ji Tanyuan was testing his limits...
Ji Tanyuan suddenly stopped walking in her high heels, then took a deep breath and turned around.
He walked up to Zhong Yan, head tilted back, in full view of everyone.
He slapped her across the face.
"I'll wait until you take the surname Ji!" he said, then turned and left.
In the presence of his assistant, secretary, hotel manager, doorman, bodyguard, and passersby, Zhong Yan received the first slap in his life.
Assistant Liang stared in disbelief, completely dumbfounded.
Everyone behind him took a step back in unison, and the secretary even gave Assistant Liang a push, saying, "You are the number one person in the Emperor's court, Assistant Liang, keep it up."
Assistant Liang swallowed hard, "Zhong..."
Zhong Yan turned to look at him, as if only then noticing them. He pointed ahead, somewhat dejected, "Go and get her back for me."
Assistant Liang, that's enough! That's your wife! Go after her! What's the point of him, a subordinate, going after her?
"You may go," Assistant Liang said in a low voice.
Zhong Yan looked over expressionlessly.
Driven by a survival instinct, Assistant Liang exclaimed "Hey!" and went after Ji Tanyuan.
“Come back,” Zhong Yan said again.
"Why are you chasing after my wife?"
Liang Zhu closed his eyes briefly. Why did getting married cause so much trouble? He turned around, made way for him, and gestured for him to proceed. "Please go ahead."
Zhong Yan watched the woman walking forward. She was wearing a long fishtail dress and couldn't walk fast at all, taking quick, small steps.
He chuckled and quickly caught up with her, grabbing her arm and gently pulling it, only to see her face covered in tears.
All the words stuck in his throat. He sighed; he was truly at his wit's end.
He bent down and wiped away his tears. "Why are you crying?"
"My surname is Ji, okay? I'll be called Ji Zhongyan from now on. I'll go back after I'm done with this busy period."
Ji Tanyuan stood still, turning her head to the side, preventing him from wiping her.
Ji Zhongyan explained, "It's not that I don't want you to go home, but do you want to be nagged by the Empress Dowager? Now that we can't part ways, you'll just have to bear with it."
Ji Tanyuan stared at him, her eyes filled with tears. Zhong Yan also felt that he was bullying her, but this was the only effective way to keep Ji Tanyuan. She had gone back to her parents' home, and he didn't know how much she would nag him.
"Tan Yuan, you should consider the consequences before you act recklessly, right?"
Ji Tanyuan: "Willful? You really know how to label people. We're not getting along well. Let's go back to the essence of this marriage alliance and just talk about interests, not feelings."
Zhong Yan straightened up and said, "You're married now, and we're on the same household registration. If you want to go home, you should go to our home, not yours. I told you before that marriage should be taken seriously. I treat you as my wife, and you treat me as your husband."
He tore up the Zhong family precepts that were included in the betrothal gifts. Ji Tanyuan didn't know that divorce in the Zhong family was very troublesome; even if you didn't die, you would still be skinned alive.
Ji Tanyuan: "Do you even consider me your wife? You were just threatening me!"
"Didn't you slap me too? We're even."
"What do you mean by settling things even? You were just threatening me and telling me to consider the consequences. What consequences? What consequences could there be if I went back to my parents' house? I've never seen a married couple not allowed to stay at their parents' house for a week."
Ji Tanyuan couldn't understand the logic. They weren't separated; what was wrong with her going back to stay for a while periodically?
Zhong Yan smiled enigmatically: "You're actually arguing with me about such trivial matters? Why aren't you as domineering as you are outside?"
"If you go back, will I be left alone in an empty house? You never came back when you were abroad, but now that you're married, you suddenly want to go back and fulfill your filial duties?"
Ji Tanyuan felt a lump in her throat, unable to swallow or spit it out. "Did I stop you from sleeping with other people? Go ahead and sleep with them, why are you stopping me?"
Zhong Yan's expression turned completely cold. He took a step back. "So you were waiting for me here, Ji Tanyuan. This is your true feeling, isn't it? You've always wanted a marriage of convenience."
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, saying, "You're dreaming. I'm not as good at having fun as you."
Ji Tanyuan's arm was being held by him, and she couldn't break free at all. "Let go!"
Ten minutes ago, Assistant Liang was craning his neck to look at the two people standing together not far away. They were such a perfect match, a handsome man and a beautiful woman. What a pity.
No one knew better than him what the Zhong family was planning. The price of saving the Ji family back then was not just about disrupting the existing situation; they were more greedy.
This marriage alliance was a scheme by the Zhong family to seize power for their own benefit.
Someone patted Assistant Liang on the shoulder, "Assistant Liang, what's up?"
Assistant Liang was startled and turned around to see a woman, Rong Xi, the vice president of Fu Rong Real Estate and the youngest daughter of the Rong family.
"President Rong? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here while we're eating?" Rong Xi looked up. "Well, no need to ask, did your boss have a fight with someone?"
Liang sighed, "No, not exactly."
Rong Xi raised her chin. "Look, you think this isn't it?"
When Assistant Liang turned around, he saw that the boss had carried the person on his shoulder.
Assistant Liang turned around, practically kneeling before him, "President Rong, please, go and persuade them. The two from Tianzheng upstairs are still waiting."
With a potential acquisition worth tens of billions imminent, the situation could become unpredictable if the rivals found out about the couple's marital problems.
Rong Xi looked at Zhong Yan, whose face was cold, and smiled. "Zhong Yan, how about I go have dinner with the people from Tianzheng for you?"
Zhong Yan stopped in her tracks.
Ji Tanyuan took a deep breath. "Put me down."
Zhong Yan put the person down and casually put his arm around their waist, saying, "No need."
“But you seem to have a lot of problems.” Rong Xi looked at Ji Tanyuan’s red eyes.
Ji Tanyuan smiled and said, "He blew the bug out of my eye just now."
Rong Xi nodded, "That's fine then."
The couple, however, were quite adept at putting on an act.
Ji Tanyuan can cooperate quickly and rationally suppress her emotions; she's quite capable. If she's playing dumb to deceive others, then things will get interesting.
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